Dana Hills students realizing the dream

Yossymar Rojas holds a jersey with his name on it given to him by the San Francisco Giants. COURTESY PHOTO

All his life they had lived in an apartment, but when the recession hit, Yossymar Rojas and his family couldn't afford to live in one on their own. At times, they lived with two other families in a small two-bedroom apartment. And most nights, cramped for space, he found himself sleeping in the closet.

Five years later, Rojas will take the first step toward realizing his parents' dream when they emigrated from Puebla, Mexico – he will graduate from Dana Hills High School.

Not only will he be the first person in his family to graduate from high school, he is graduating with honors, having maintained a 4.0 GPA. Graduating isn't the only big event for Rojas this summer. He was named the Boys & Girls Clubs' Youth of the Year at the local, county and state competitions over the past few months. He's competing in the Pacific Region competition against eight other youths of the year in July. If he advances from there, he will be one of five youths to compete for the national title in Washington, D.C.

Despite his accomplishments at the age of 18, Rojas said he would not have expected this of himself when he was younger. A first-generation American, Rojas' first language was Spanish.

"The bits and pieces (of English) that I got were from the kids that my mother took care of as a nanny," he said.

So Rojas didn't really start learning English until he was in kindergarten, but he struggled with it and felt separated from his classmates because of the language barrier. He became a very shy and introverted child, he said. If he hadn't joined the Boys & Girls Clubs of Capistrano Valley when he was in sixth grade, Rojas said he would have never become the young man he is today.

Although shy, Rojas said he was initially attracted to the club because of the soccer league. But the club ended up opening a whole new world for him outside of soccer. He became increasingly involved in service-based organizations through the club. As he became more comfortable with himself, Rojas took on leadership roles and began organizing service events.

By his sophomore year of high school, the shy introvert was gone; Yossymar Rojas had arrived.

"I realized I didn't have to just be another club member, but I could be a leader both in the club and in my community," he said.

"He's just been an unbelievable role model ever since he's been here," said James Littlejohn, executive director for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Capistrano Valley. Littlejohn has known Rojas since he joined the club and said he has enjoyed watching Rojas grow.

During his high school career, Rojas was not only able to continue his work with service-based organizations through the club, but he was also a member of the cross-country team for four years and the track and field team for three years. He took nine Advanced Placement classes and maintained high grades that would earn him the distinction of graduating as one of the class valedictorians this month.

Rojas said he was able to juggle everything because he treated academics as his top priority, and everything else was a stress release. This fall, he will be studying biomedical engineering at UC Irvine and he's looking forward to it, but has some apprehension because of the recognition he's received through the Youth of the Year award.

"A lot is riding on me to succeed, so I'm nervous but I'm also excited for this new chapter in my life," he said.

Littlejohn said he is sad to see Rojas go but is excited for him to take the next step in life. He said he knows Rojas will continue to find success in his future and is looking forward to seeing him compete in the next level of the Youth of the Year awards. He is only the second club member to make it this far in the competition, Littlejohn said, and he would be the first to win the regional title.

Despite all that recognition, Littlejohn said Rojas has still managed to keep everything in perspective. With the next competition for Youth of the Year a month after graduation, Rojas said he's less concerned with his speech and just excited to meet the other competitors and hear their stories.

At the end of the day, the service he has done is more rewarding than the recognition.

"The intrinsic satisfaction you get from helping out someone in need is greater than any award you could ever get," he said.

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